Shadow of great britain

On the blue sea of ​​the English Channel, the bow of the Beagle broke through the waves and rode the wind.

Colonel Fitzroy held a monocular while observing, and ordered the helmsman: "Full left helm, seize the windward position first, don't rush to get close."

Under his order, the Beagle quickly turned its hull sideways to the north.

Immediately afterwards, Colonel Fitzroy loudly ordered to the crew on the deck: "The gunners and musketeers reload ammunition! Quartermaster, how many Congreve rockets have we brought this time?"

The quartermaster responded in a loud voice: "Report, we have prepared two hundred rounds for this sea training!"

"Okay! Don't worry about it, just bring it all up for me! Set up the rocket sampan first. If the situation changes later, give it two rounds of shelling. After it reaches nearly 150 yards, let me use it. Damn rockets! Two hundred rockets, I have to shoot them all within eight minutes!"

"As you command!"

Just as the Beagle turned around, two ships in the sea ahead seemed to have discovered traces of the Beagle.

Soon, Arthur saw the red, white and blue tricolor flag on the other side's mast through the telescope.

He frowned and murmured, "French flag?"

Elder listened and corrected with a smile: "What! Arthur, the French flag is white. It is a maritime signal flag. It requires us to keep a distance from him."

As soon as Elder finished speaking, he heard Colonel Fitzroy order: "Tell them that we require dialogue."

Soon, the yellow and blue communication flag was also raised on the main mast of the Beagle.

On the opposite boat, Fred was holding his waist and talking to a man wearing a white turban, a beard, and a machete in his waist.

After the first officer of the Blackthorn saw the flag on the Beagle, he hurried to his side and whispered a few words.

Fred spat out the straw in his mouth with a loud sound, and cursed: "Damn it, why are there so many shits on this piece of shit? Tell them to get out of here, I don't have time to fight with them."

Hearing this, the first mate had no choice but to reply: "Mr. Fred, there is a reserve flag of the Royal Navy hanging opposite. Isn't it inappropriate for us to talk like this? After all, they may just want to escort them."

Fred glared and said: "It's just a fucking Strait of Dover. How can any pirate without eyesight dare to go to the English Channel to rob?"

When the man in the white turban opposite heard this, he couldn't help stroking his beard and asked in barbecue-flavored English: "Mr. Fred, I'm afraid it's inappropriate for you to say this, right? After all, I'm standing here In front of you."

Fred laughed loudly when he heard this, he hooked the other person's shoulder and said.

"Brother, you are different! Isn't this a special situation? Alas, you are also unlucky and were not born in a good era. If it were the 16th century now and Barbarossa Hayreddin, the Silver Hand, was still alive, then Now, even if the French have a hundred nerves, they won’t dare to destroy your base!

But the French guy’s retribution comes quickly! That son of a bitch, Charles X, had just destroyed Algiers and had the Revolutionary Party thrown out of power the next month. So, God is actually blessing you. Your bad luck is just because He took a nap occasionally. "

When the other party heard this, he was silent for a while. Then he put his right hand on his left chest, bowed his body slightly and sighed: "Ansaramu Rikong, I hope we all have good luck in the future."

When Fred heard this, he took a puff of smoke and said: "But... brother, I used to sell some slaves to you, which was no problem. But, you want me to pick up your ship of people, this is a bit... …After all, as you know, I don’t have much money either.”

When the man in the white turban heard this, he couldn't help but push his hand down. However, just when he almost touched the knife, Fred's voice sounded again.

"But you are lucky this time. To tell you the truth, I don't plan to work in London anymore. This Blackthorn is going to the United States. I bought some properties there a few years ago. If you are interested, You can come with me to make a fortune.

There are still a lot of desperate poor people on my ship. Although they cannot be directly used as white slaves like in the Ottomans, they can also serve as a labor force for seven or eight years in the Americas. We will add some black slaves when the time comes.

Looking back, whether it is setting up a tobacco plantation or a cotton plantation in the West Indies, there is a lot of potential! During the planting season you can run some business orders and smuggle goods, and during the picking season you can help me transport goods.

When you save some money, you can also do some serious business. Isn't this much better than floating on the sea every day? With all due respect, since the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the crackdown on pirates has become increasingly severe.

Originally, even if you didn't mention this today, as an old brother, I still want to advise you. "

When the other party heard this, he couldn't help but ask: "Didn't you do a good job in the UK? Why don't you do it?"

Fred grinned widely, revealing the big gold teeth at the corner of his mouth: "Brother, the situation in England is different from that of you Barbary pirates. As long as you make the Pasha in charge of Algiers happy, everything will be fine.

But Britain, this shithole, is different. Not only do we need to lick Scotland Yard, we also need to lick parishes, magistrates' courts, and some messy private detectives and burglars. If there is a problem in any of these links, it is easy to fall into the pit.

Brother, think about it, I'm just doing some small business like slave trading, selling stolen goods, smuggling goods, bribing judges, and clearing channels. After a year, excluding labor costs, relationship management, etc., there is only a negligible profit.

After working hard for a year, sometimes the money I make is not as good as dozens of looms in a textile factory. For this little money, I have to be so busy. Is it easy for me? I'm not like you. You Barbary pirates can do a lot of work, and then you can casually get a few beautiful female slaves to have fun with you when you get home.

Alas, I am a person who has been working hard all my life! From this point of view, belief in Allah is indeed stronger than belief in God. "

When the man in the white turban heard this, he pursed his lips twice, and finally couldn't hold back and said, "Mr. Fred, Allah and God are actually the same person."

"Oh? Really?" Fred hugged each other affectionately and said, "No wonder I think you are like my biological brother. It turns out that we believe in the same thing. Let's do this. You can give me lunch later. Talk about the Quran, let’s have a good chat about this topic.”

Fred was having a lively chat with the pirate leader. Suddenly, the first mate couldn't help but interrupt in a low voice: "Sir, that ship is constantly approaching us, and their behavior doesn't seem right."

"Something's wrong?" Fred cursed: "I'm even worse than him! What's wrong? Do you still want to rob me? My brother is a serious pirate. You give them the guts to try!"

When the first mate heard this, he was almost speechless at Fred, who had no knowledge of navigation.

At this time, it was the pirate leader who was the first to discover the subtleties of the situation.

He took out the telescope in his pocket and looked in the direction of the Beagle for a while, and suddenly he muttered.

"They raised a flag and asked us to stop sailing immediately and allow them to board the ship for inspection."

"Huh?" Fred almost laughed angrily: "Are you really not afraid of death if you come here? Brother Ahmed, are you interested in doing one more thing before going to America?"

Ahmed looked at the size of the Beagle, thought for a moment, and then nodded slowly: "We can do it, but after we are done, we must escape quickly. If this matter reaches the ears of the Royal Navy, we will Even if I have ten lives, I’m afraid it’s not enough to die.”

Fred sneered: "This is the effect I want! The Royal Navy? It defeated Napoleon back then, but we, the glorious army, who experienced the artillery fire of Waterloo! Pass my order and let them in. I will let them see what it means to come from the first The attack of the cavalry second lieutenant of the 18th Dragoon Regiment!"